Optical mirrors are common household items that are used to adjust or verify the users appearance and features. With optical mirrors, a reflective material is typically encapsulated with glass that provides a reflection or a reverse image of the actual user. While optical mirrors are extremely useful in providing information that cannot be viewed directly, aberrations may occur in the medium used to reflect the information. Moreover, optical mirrors provide a transposed image to the user. Objects shown in an optical mirror are horizontally flipped (e.g., from left to right and vice versa).
Users may also be hampered with the fixed state of the optical mirror and unable to easily view objects at different angles. For example, several mirrors may be required to view the back of ones' head. Other examples of difficulty with an optical mirror are more attributed to the three dimensional aspect of an object being viewed on a two dimensional surface of the mirror. In many cases, multiple mirrors are used to view the topology of the object.
Proper lighting of an object that is to be viewed in an optical mirror may be challenging. The ability to light an object such that its mirrored image provides a view of a desired feature may be hampered by shadows or require multiple light sources in order to provide a clear view of the object feature.
Optical mirrors are used for many purposes such as medical devices, personal/vanity use, and automotive applications. While optical mirrors are simple to construct, if improperly constructed, the image they reflect may be misleading. Some optical properties of an optical mirror can be manipulated for additional useful effects. However, the optical properties are typically fixed in an optical mirror in the sense that they cannot be modified or changed once created. Any defect, whether intentional or not, once cast in glass cannot be easily changed.
Other optical aberrations may include distortions from the quality of the glass and the reflective material deployed. The material properties of these components become critical for determining depth of focus and minimizing distortion from elements such as elongation. An example of these can be seen at a carnival show where mirrors are deployed to distort the users appearance in an effort to provoke laughter in the unusual shapes reflected or mirrored back to the user.
Optical aberrations can be found in optical side view mirrors utilized on automobiles to provide additional views of surrounding traffic. Typically, the automobile manufacturers provide a warning label such as “Objects in the mirror are closer than they appear” in order to educate the user on the hazards of convex properties that have been intentionally instilled into a side view mirror to provide a wide angle view. Convex and concave properties are perspective distortions in optical mirrors.
It is desirable to improve upon optical mirrors to benefit the user.